A/N: Yay! I'm so glad you like the story. I was afraid it was going to flop. I know the last couple of chapters were short, so I'll try to make this one long. And for the record, I cannot STAND double negatives, but its part of the dialect, so if there are some in the story they are intentional.

edwards other bella: That's a good question. He knew about her, but he didn't recognize her. And its three years after the book, so Pony is 17. How old does that make Steve? Would he be 19? Cuz in the book I think Soda was 16.

Breaking All of the Rules

Chapter 3

Valerie walked around the house, threading in and out of the people. There was nobody she knew, but the house was full of greasers. She had decided not to change her clothes. Her eyeliner was dark and she didn't wear any lipstick. She hated lipstick. Her third bottle of beer was in her hand. She kept looking around for Steve but she couldn't find him.

"Hey," Soda said, coming up to her. "How many of those have you had/"

"This is my first one," she lied over the music. "Am I on a limit?"

Soda shrugged. "I don't guess. Just stay close to one of us so we can watch your back."

"Why are you always thinkin' somethin's gonna happen to me?" She asked, her words slurring slightly.

"Cuz it could," Soda said to her. He sighed, and pushed her into the bedroom. "Look," he said as she sat down on the bed, "maybe you don't realize it but this is a rough hood. A pretty girl walking all alone is an assault waiting to happen. And so is a pretty girl drunk at a party."

"Gimme a break," she said.

"No, listen," he said carefully. "I've seen it happen, dozens of times. You need to be careful."

She nodded, only half hearing what he was saying to her. "What about Steve?" She asked boldly, going to stand in front of the mirror.

"What about Steve?" Soda asked.

She was starting to get brave. She always got brave, and somewhat obnoxious, when she was drunk. "Do you think he likes me?" She asked, tilting her head to the side and examining herself in the mirror.

"Steve likes a lot of girls," he shrugged. "That's what greasers are like."

"Maybe he'd like me more if I wore this," she said, holding up a skirt similar to the one she'd worn the day before.

"No way," Soda said, pulling the skirt out of her hands. "He likes you, okay, but he's not who you think."

She finished the beer and set the empty bottle on her dresser.

"Are you sure that's your first?" Soda asked.

She nodded.

"Just take it easy, all right?"

She nodded again, leaving the room to find Steve.

Soda stood there in his room, in shock at how bold his sister had been. He had never met a girl so daring before. If she wasn't his sister, he'd think she was a tramp.

Valerie finally found Steve when she was halfway through her fourth beer. He was just coming in from outside. She stood in the kitchen by the refrigerator and lit a smoke coolly, waiting for him to come up to her.

"Hey Valerie," he said, standing next to her.

"Hi," she said in her sweet voice.

"How ya been?" He asked, leaning one arm against the refrigerator and putting the other in his back pocket.

"Better now that you're talkin' to me," she said.

Steve tried not to shudder at the sexy tone of her voice. She was such a turn on, he couldn't stay away, but he couldn't be with her either. "You wanna go outside?" He asked, nodding to the door.

She couldn't help but think how sexy he was, leaning up against the refrigerator coolly. "Sure," she said, and he followed her out the door, watching as her hips slowly swayed back and forth.

They sat on a bench on the back porch. His body was turned toward hers with his arm propped up on the back. Valerie leaned against the back of the bench composedly, her body slightly turned toward Steve's.

"Do you like me?" she asked suddenly, her bravery kicking in again.

This sudden outburst caught Steve by surprise. "Sure," he said, wanting to say 'yes' and kiss her. "You seem like a nice girl."

She laughed. "I'm not a 'nice girl'," she said, "not even close." she leaned closer to him, putting her hands on his chest.

Steve didn't know how to react. She was coming on a little too strong, but somehow he found it very tempting. And then she kissed him. He thought for sure his heart was going to jump out of his chest because it was beating so fast. Her kiss tasted like a mix of beer and cigarettes and passion. Her body collapsed onto his, and it took every once of strength he had to put his hands on the girls shoulders and gently push her off of him.

"I can't," he whispered breathlessly. "Valerie, your brothers would kill me," he said, wanting so much to give in as she began moving closer to him.

"They don't have to find out," she said, kissing him again.

"Valerie," he said pushing her away, "you're drunk, you don't know what you're doing." he stood up and she fell back into her place.

She stared up at him blankly. "Are you rejecting me?" she asked, becoming angry. "You don't want me?"

"It's not that," he started to say, but she had already stood up to go back inside. "Valerie," he called, but she didn't turn around.

Steve sank back into his seat and put his head in his hands. He hated rejecting her, but he wanted her to want to be with him because she liked him, not because she was drunk.

Valerie leaned up against the wall outside of her bedroom, trying her best not to go find somebody who would want to be with her. She didn't want to be like that anymore. She didn't want just anybody. She wanted him. She wanted him to want her. And she was afraid she might have ruined her chance.

She turned around and went back outside. She saw Steve sitting on the bench, his head in his hands.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

He looked up at her, "yeah," he said. "I just..."

She put her hand up to stop him. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that." She sat next to him. "I get a little carried away sometimes."

"It's not that I don't want you," he told her.

"I know," she said. "It's my brothers? Right?"

"It's against the 'code' to date a sister. Its disrespectful."

"You would think they would want me to be with someone they know and trust," she muttered.

"They know my reputation, too," he said. "I'm no angel."

"Neither am I," she said before she could stop herself.

He looked at her questioningly. Her head was still spinning from all of the alcohol. "What do you mean?" he asked.

She sank back against the bench. "Nothing...it's just..."

"Just that you're not a virgin?"

She almost said that she hadn't been a virgin for years, but she stopped, afraid that it would make her unattractive to him.

"It's okay," he said. "You can tell me. I wont tell your brothers."

"No," she said. "I've been around the block a couple times."

"How many guys?" he asked.

"Why?" she asked, turning to him.

He shrugged. "Just wondering."

"Two," she lied. "And I was in love with both of them." another lie.

"That's not bad," he said.

She remained silent, hoping he wouldn't see through her.

"You think you could get an excuse to get out of the house tomorrow?" he asked.

"Maybe," she said. "why?"

"I was wondering if you wanted to do something. Like a date..." his voice trailed off. He knew he was treading on dangerous ground. He couldn't stop himself. He had to get to know her.

"I'll try."

"If you can, I'll be at the dinner around seven."

"No way," Pony said after Valerie asked him to cover for her.

"Pony, please? Come on."

"Are you insane?" he asked her, leaning back against the wall.

It was after the party and almost everybody had gone home. Darry had gone to sleep hours ago and Soda had went home with some girl.

Valerie sat down on the bed. "We're not gonna do nothing," she said. "I just want to go out with him. And Darry wouldn't let me. You're the only one who understands, Ponyboy."

He sighed, "If somethin' happens to you, they're all gonna kill me."

"See? That's why I need you to walk me," she said. "They'll never let me go alone. But if I go with you, they won't ask questions."

"Okay," he said finally. "I'll do it. But its just cuz I know you'd do it anyway, and at least I'll be able to keep an eye on you."

She squealed and threw her arms around him to give him a hug. "Thank you so much, Pony, you don't know what this means to me."

"If you get your heartbroken don't come whinin' to me," he said jokingly.

Valerie lay in her bed that night. She was so excited about meeting Steve she couldn't sleep. She just hoped that she wouldn't find out she lied to him about her past.